


Let Them Eat Cake

by RandomReader13



Series: Dark Angels and Demon Brats [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, MARA DESERVES LOVE, Part of DA&DB Verse yaaay, Prequel to DA&DB, The League is not a fun place, This is rated Teen because mentions of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 06:50:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18585994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomReader13/pseuds/RandomReader13
Summary: The League is not friendly to those without status.Oneshot of Mara. Prequel to DA&DB





	Let Them Eat Cake

**Author's Note:**

> In place of a new chapter of DA&DB (I'm sorry) please accept this thing I just pounded this out in two hours!  
> (hand-written stories seem pretty long until you type them lol)

The kitchen bustled, servants weaving between tables and fires and flashing knives. It was like a dance, not a finger out of place lest it be lopped off. Mara watched the dance with tired eyes, huddled in a dark corner under a table, back pressed to cool stone. Her breath shuddered once, an ugly rattling in her chest, and she pushed harder on the wad of cloth stuffed in her side. Tears of pain rose in her eyes but she clenched her fists and forced them away. She would not end up like her old sparring partner, who had cried after failing a test and had been punished accordingly. The remembered scent of burning flesh filled her nose, her ears ringing with high-pitched screams.

Mara clamped her hands over her ears and curled forward. The sharp pain in her torso brought her back to the present and she focused on the shuffle of feet and clang of pots. Anything to block out the sight of scorched, ruined eyes. Her silent but rapid breathing gradually slowed and she looked down at her side. Blood had begun seeping through the makeshift bandage she had torn from the tapestry ruined in her and Damian's fight. It was bad; the bleeding had not stopped and the tapestry was dirty and coarse, rubbing against her painfully with every movement. She would need a replacement.

A pair of feet stopped in front of her table and Mara froze. She had chosen a small table in the very back corner of the kitchen because no one ever used it unless they had to. The sound of a knife slicing scraped above her head and her shoulders loosened slightly. She hadn’t been found. She pulled her knees closer to her chest and barely dared to breathe. For several minutes, her entire focus was on the bare feet in front of her and the light thud of knife hitting table above.

A scrap of cloth fell to the ground by the servant’s right foot. Mara’s heart stopped. She waited for the servant to bend down, to grab the rag, to glance over and see her. What would Ra’s take for her disobedience; her eyes? Fingers? Tongue? Mara’s throat closed around a forbidden sob. But the servant didn't pick up the rag. Instead, their foot lifted ever so slightly and kicked the rag closer to her. Mara didn’t move. The slicing never faltered over her head. She looked at the rag. It was worn with ripped edges, but it looked clean. The servant didn't move, calling some inane comment over their shoulder and receiving a coarse laugh from near the ovens.

Mara’s side ached and she could feel wetness start to trickle through her fingers. She needed a replacement bandage or she would bleed on the floor and be found out. She reached forward slowly, never taking her eyes off the servant’s legs. Her hand brushed the cloth and she slowly pulled it back. No voice boomed threats and recriminations, no hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked her out of her hiding spot. She sniffed the rag. It was dry and smelled fine, no hint of vinegar or poison that would make her wound sear with agony. She folded the rag and gingerly pulled the bit of tapestry out of her side. The trickle of blood became a stream and she grit her teeth, shoving the rag into the stab wound and pressing hard.

Her hands were shaking as she wound a longer bit of tapestry back around her torso. She tied a tight knot and slumped back against the wall. Sweat dripped down her face, both from the pain and the heat that made the kitchen air stick in her throat. The servant shifted and her head snapped up. A bit of pastry fell to the ground. Mara shifted to a more defensible position, ignoring the pulling at her side. A rag was one thing, a bit of trash no one would miss, but food? The food specially made for Damian’s birthday? The servant could lose their hands for such a blunder. And it if was intentional….

Just like before, the servant kicked the slice towards her. Mara stared at the honey oozing from the pastry. Her mouth watered, her stomach twisting inside her. She hadn’t eaten in two days, a punishment for a misplaced stance. She looked back and forth between the food and the servant. She swallowed hard.

The cake was soft and still warm and Mara couldn’t care less about the dust stuck to the honey. She nibbled at it slowly, eyes darting from servant to servant as they bustled back and forth. The slicing stopped and her eyes flicked up. The servant walked away, carrying a tray of sliced cake, no hint of their interaction anywhere in their posture. Mara settled back out of her squat, turning her attention to the bit of cake still clutched in her hand. She didn’t know why the servant had done what they did, did not what they might want in return, but she was warm and sore and her stomach was not as clenched as it had been before. She licked the honey off her fingers and closed her eyes, letting the sound of chatter and movement lull her into the kind of rest her silent, tomb-like quarters never allowed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone for your support, comments give me life! If y'all want to see more of this type of thing, lmk! I write this stuff when I'm stuck on the main stuff  
> It's finals week next week! Yaaaaaaaaay *sarcasm*


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